


You Just Got Trunk'd!

by FunnyWings



Series: Psych/Supernatural Crossover Series [9]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Psych Fusion, Drama, F/F, F/M, Gen, Humor, M/M, Mystery, cop!Charlie, cop!cas, fake psychic!Dean, psych au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-12
Updated: 2018-06-12
Packaged: 2019-05-21 11:55:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 15,790
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14914908
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FunnyWings/pseuds/FunnyWings
Summary: In this final installment of the Supernatural/Psych Crossover series, psychic detective Dean Winchester is working on his final case with his brother Sam. With Sam's wedding coming up and tensions running high under Michael Milton at the SBPD, what will happen when Dean's life is in danger and his friends and family have to team up to save him?Part of the Psych/Supernatural Crossover Series. I'd suggest reading the rest first, but if you want to start with this one, no one is stopping you.Based off of Psych episode: Shawn Takes a Shot in the Dark





	You Just Got Trunk'd!

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoy!

“What kind of irresponsible god damn impulse-“ John shouted.

“I can’t believe you called me in! Like you didn’t know exactly where I was-“ said Dean, violently shrugging off John’s tight grip on his shoulder.

They had been going back and forth like this for a while, and Sam felt a lot smaller than his fifteen years as he tried to shrink himself into the couch. He wished he could be anywhere else. After dragging Dean back from the rally Cassie Robinson had convinced him to go to, John had decided it was his job in life to make sure Dean knew each and every way in which he had betrayed his trust.

Dean did not see it that way. Neither did Sam for that matter, but picking sides was the last thing that he was going to do.

“I always do everything you tell me to, and I just wanted to do this one thing for myself. Just once-“

“That girl was filling your head with stupid ideas,” said John. “Making you think that you’re not good enough the way you are.”

“No, she told me I could be whatever the fuck I wanted,” said Dean. “And the last fucking thing I want to be is like you! All you care about is your job. You’re the reason mom left. You’re the reason I feel like shit all the time, and-“

“I won’t be talked to like this,” said John. “You’re grounded. No car, no phone privileges, no television, no nothing. Your brother can drive you both to school, and back.”

“Oh I’m grounded, well that’s just… Fine. I’m grounded for what exactly?”

“For insubordination,” said John.

“Right. Because that makes sense,” snarked Dean. “I’m your son, not your goddamn trainee. Cassie isn’t the one who makes me feel like I’m not good enough. That has always been your fault.”

“Go to your room. Get out of my sight.”

Dean did as he was told, slamming the door behind him. As soon as he was gone, John slumped against the wall. In a few moments he was sat on the floor, trying to calm himself down. Trying to let go of his anger. Sam stayed sitting where he was. He wished he hadn’t waited up for his dad and Dean to get home. He wished he’d just gone to sleep.

“What am I doing wrong?” John asked, but he wasn’t asking Sam. He was lost in his own world.

Sam quietly sat up and made his way to Dean’s room. He knocked against the door, the pattern only he and Dean used. Sam took the muttered curses as permission to enter and opened the door. Dean looked up at him from where he was laying on the floor looking up at the glow in the dark stars he’d put up on the ceiling for his tenth birthday. Sam lay down on the floor and joined him.

“Dad’s just-“

“Save it,” said Dean, but there was no heat behind it. “It’s not going to be a problem much longer. I’m almost out of the house anyway. Let him try and control me then.”

Sam went very quiet for a while. He didn’t like to think of a world in which he and Dean didn’t live in the same place. It didn’t make sense to him, the idea that he would suddenly be on his own in a way he never had been. He banished the idea from his head, and decided to focus on other things. They had time anyway, before Dean graduated. If Dean graduated, which was something else Sam had taken to not thinking about.

“Did Cassie really dump you?” he asked. Dean glared at him. “I mean… what are you going to do?”

“I don’t know,” said Dean. “Win her back, I guess. I’m going to marry her someday.”

“How do you know that?” Sam asked, his eyebrows scrunching up in confusion. Marriage seemed a far off and way too serious thing to him. He couldn’t imagine the kind of confidence Dean had in his voice about the topic.

“When you know, you know,” said Dean, defensively. “Someday you’ll know and you’ll realize that’s a stupid question.”

Sam looked up at the glow in the dark stars and guessed he would have to take Dean’s word for it.

********PRESENT DAY**********

Sam’s apartment had become a mess of last minute wedding supplies and arrangements and seating charts, and it was starting to drive him a little mad. Every time he let his mind wander, he realized he was worrying over whether the florist was going to get back to them, or if someone wasn’t going to show up, or if the entire thing was going to be a disaster. Sam shook himself and looked over to Dean for a little support in the chaos.

Dean had gotten that far off, serious look in his face again, and Sam was more than a little sick of it. He nudged Eileen who was signing with Mildred and trying to politely explain she already had a wedding dress and she really didn’t need to borrow one from the CIA’s storage. She seemed relieved to be removed from the conversation.

“What do you need?” Eileen signed at him, doing her best to avoid looking at everything they had left to plan. Eileen, as it turned out, was not a planner. Give her a case to examine and she could be still for hours going over it, but as soon as it came to figuring out where people were supposed to sit she managed to find every kind of excuse to be doing anything else, which usually meant helping Dean on one of his cases. Sam had allowed it because Dean hadn’t been quite right since he and Cas broke up and working with Eileen cheered him up.

“Do you think you could come up with something Dean and I need to do? So I can talk to him alone?” Sam signed back.

“Dean,” said Eileen out loud. “I need someone to go with Sam to talk to Kevin and make sure the catering is confirmed for Sunday.”

“Sure thing Eileen,” Dean said, shaking his head a little and smiling at her. He picked up his jacket and followed Sam, letting his smile drop. “I still can’t believe we’re using Vita’s for catering.”

They walked out the door of Sam’s apartment and down the stairs towards the Impala. Sam chanced a sidelong glance at Dean and decided to bring up the subject Dean had been avoiding for weeks.

“Well, Cas did get us a great discount. Kevin wanted to say thank you to him for arresting Talbot,” Sam said casually, watching as Dean’s expression soured. “Are you ever going to tell me what happened between you two?”

“No,” said Dean. “Look, it’s great that you and Novak are like best friends now, or whatever-“

“Dean-“

“But if I don’t wanna talk about him, I don’t have to talk about him,” said Dean. “So are we going to Vita’s or not?”

Sam sighed and tossed the keys to Dean. He figured he would do his best to make sure Dean was in a better mood before he made his second attempt at figuring out just what the hell had happened.

*****FOUR WEEKS EARLIER*****

“Wanna get married then, asshole?” Dean asked, holding up the ring. Cas’ face went entirely blank, and Dean snorted before putting it away back into his pocket. He swallowed down the resentful, disappointed feeling that swelled up in response to Cas’ horror. “I’m just kidding, Jesus. Calm down. The look on your fucking face-“

“That wasn’t funny,” said Cas, still looking pale. “You know that-“

“You’ve been married before and have weird commitment issues that you refuse to talk about?” said Dean. “Yeah, I know. That’s the problem.”

“I do not have commitment issues.”

“Then why the fuck do I have to act like you’re always two steps from leaving my ass?” asked Dean. He realized he was shouting and took a deep breath, scrubbing his hand across his face and doing his best to calm down somewhat. “Maybe you should figure out what the fuck it is you really want, Cas.”

“Maybe you shouldn’t treat everything like it’s a joke,” said Cas. “You are the least responsible and most infuriatingly immature man I have ever met. And it isn’t my fault you don’t trust me.”

“Oh, you wanna talk about trust now?”

“No, I wanted to go to sleep,” growled Cas. “You were the one who decided to pick a fight.”

“What, am I just supposed to ignore your bullshit and hope it goes away?” asked Dean. “Because that’s what it seems like you want. To just be able to be as serious about us as you feel like on your damn schedule and leave me in the dark about all of it.”

“What do you want from me, Dean?” asked Cas. The exasperated outburst cut off Dean’s anger. He stared, then shook his head and closed his eyes.

“I think you should go.”

“What?”

“Leave. It’s not like it’ll take you long,” muttered Dean. And god help him if he was still a little stuck on the fact that Cas had never really made much effort to make their relationship look anything more than temporary. “Not even a toothbrush, Cas.”

“That’s not fair-“

“I told you to leave.”

*****PRESENT*****

Michael looked at the two people sitting in front of him. To the left was Castiel Novak, who was sitting ramrod straight and looking straight ahead. Although he was certainly uncomfortable with the silence, he was showing no outward signs of it. Across from his desk and to his right was Charlie Bradbury, who was much less restrained. She fidgeted endlessly as she waited for Michael to speak.

“I have a case for you,” he said. Both of their faces lit up. Michael had been unable to stop assigning them cases altogether when they had both been mentioned in the news stories about the spelling bee. It wouldn’t do for either of them to have any credible complaint if the press were to speak to them, especially since the person who had broken the story, Max Banes, had such a close connection to the police department with his sister as one of their officers. Still, it was rare for him to assign cases to officers Bradbury and Novak. “Andy Gallagher reported his vehicle had been tampered with and vandalized. Look into it.”

Novak grit his teeth but nodded dutifully, which Michael made no attempt not to take satisfaction in. The fool had tried to undermine him, and if he thought Michael was ever going to stop coming for him, he had another thing coming. As soon as he was able, Michael had plans to expel Novak from the force. It was unfortunate the people he owed for his current upward rise had made it clear that he wasn’t to get rid of the officer for the time being.

Michael was busy enough staring down Novak that he didn’t notice Bradbury standing at first.

“We are two of the best guys you have,” she said. “You can’t just keep benching us and giving us shitty cases like this. You need us.”

“Charlie,” Novak said to her half heartedly. She steamrolled over him with hardly a glance in his direction.

“Cas didn’t do anything wrong,” she said. “And I learned my lesson. So if you’re not going to use us, you might as well transfer us. What’s the point of paying us to be here? What’s your angle?”

“I like having someone to do my paperwork. Novak’s work in such matters is passable,” Michael said. Bradbury went red with anger at his casual tone. She leaned forward across the desk to glare at him.

“You’re pathetic and small, and I pity you,” she said, enunciating each word slowly and clearly.

Michael smiled.

“If that’s all,” he said to her. Charlie narrowed her eyes and sat. “I expect you to get started on the case immediately. Oh, and I’ve arranged the psychic to join you. I hope you won’t let personal matters get in the way of quality police work, Novak. I’ve overheard from some of the other officers that you and Mr. Winchester aren’t on the best of terms.”

“I’ll manage,” Castiel said emotionlessly. “May we leave?”

Michael had been hoping to wring more of a reaction from him, but supposed the gathering tension in Novak’s shoulders would have to do. He nodded, dismissing the both of them to their task and then returning to his own work.

********

Charlie Bradbury knew more than a few things about Cas Novak, as her partner of a couple years now. One thing she knew about him is that he needed a sense of control. Another is that he didn’t do well with change. The third and final is that he prided himself on his professionalism and integrity above all else.

Watching him walk out of the police station to punch a wall and coming back with a bloody hand is the kind of out of character that lets Charlie know that Cas wasn’t just frustrated with Michael. He was livid.

“Seriously, Cas?” she asked him as he sat down at his desk and starting wrapping his hand in bandages. “You can’t let him get to you like this.”

“Ah yes,” said Cas. “Unlike you, who handled the situation perfectly and didn’t insult our boss even once.”

“FYI, Mr. Dripping Sarcasm, I was testing a theory,” said Charlie. “Michael isn’t firing us, and he really wants to. I just gave him a super firable offense and he still hasn’t. Something’s up.”

“Dean said he was working on it,” said Cas. “Of course that was before…”

Cas trailed off into awkward silence. Charlie could practically hear the office go quiet as they waited for the long anticipated details neither Dean nor Cas had supplied to anyone. Charlie decided to push. If nothing else, it might increase workplace productivity if people stopped gossiping about it.

“You know you can tell me what happened, right?” Charlie asked.

“I’d rather not.”

“Are you and Dean going to be okay working together on this?”

“I will be,” said Cas, only slightly bitter. Mostly he just sounded tired. “Dean is the one who asked me to stay away from him. If he feels like he can handle it, who am I to stop him?”

The wheels began whirring in Charlie’s head. Cas’ tightlipped resistance to revealing what had spun apart a relationship that by all accounts had seemed to be working was concerning. Charlie hadn’t been able to figure out what exactly had pushed it so far into wrong that it just ended.

“Dean broke up with you?” she asked. Cas looked away, a myriad of emotions on his face. “I thought maybe you had a fight, and it just, well, and you both kinda-”

“I don’t want to talk about it, Charlie,” said Cas. “We have a job to do. Let’s get it done.”

And Cas was closed for business for the day, as far as talking about anything important was concerned. Charlie let it go, and pushed down her irritation that Cas was making this all so difficult when he clearly still cared about Dean. Maybe if he talked about it she would be able to help him instead of having to watch him wallow like this, but fuck logic if you’re Castiel Novak and you have to stoically suffer alone. Like that’s not bullshit.

“Fine,” said Charlie, following Cas out to the car. “But we are talking about it. I will sic Jo on you.”

“I’m glad the two of you never dated,” Cas said, shuddering at the thought of his sister becoming more overbearing than she usually was. “You’re already scarily coordinated.”

“Yeah, pretty sure Jo eats the people she dates alive,” said Charlie. “And we’re basically sisters now, so no. Also, stop trying to distract me.”

“I heard Donna was interested in asking you out.”

“We’re actually going to Sam’s wedding together- No, that’s another distraction,” said Charlie. She was beginning to get frustrated with her partner at this point. “Please tell me this isn’t how you handled married life.”

“Of course not,” said Castiel. “Meg and I only screamed at each other until we managed to find ourselves naked enough to forget why we were angry. Completely different.”

“That’s functional.”

“Yes, well I’m not functional,” said Cas. He got into the car and slammed the door behind him. Charlie got in her side, turning down the radio as it blasted out of the speakers. Cas took a moment to compose himself before slumping back. “I’m not functional, and Dean figured that out. That’s what happened. There’s no big revelation and reconciliation coming, Charlie. There’s no easy fix. We weren’t suited for each other. Please stop trying to fix things with him on my behalf. You are hurting me when you do this.”

Charlie could feel herself recoil at the accusation. However, it only took a look at Cas to see he meant it. He wasn’t saying it to avoid the topic or push away discomfort. He was just sad.

“Okay,” said Charlie. “I’ll stop.”

“Thank you.”

They drove on quietly while the crackle of the radio nearly drowned out the mournful notes of some top 40 love song or other. It wasn’t the most comfortable ride in the world.

*********

Dean had had a hard time convincing Sam to get on the Andy Gallagher case with him. Sam had a wedding to get ready for, and last minute details to arrange, and a future wife who was allergic to the whole planning process. Not only that, but Sam had been trying to get in touch with their mom for days to confirm that she would be at the wedding, and all he’d heard back from official parties was that Mary was busy undercover somewhere and they’d “let him know.” Like that wasn’t concerning.

The thing was though, Sam had made it pretty clear that after he was married he wanted out of the psychic business. Or at least mostly. And far be it from Dean to hold that against Eileen, because she was more than game for a few hijinks. Sam was the one who was forward thinking to something more stable. It didn’t matter who that was with (or even if the absence of adventure would make Sam happy, which Dean wasn’t convinced about). Sam wanted to try out a nice, quiet, no danger lifestyle, then that was fine.

But one last case first.

Dean had invited Eileen along too, but she’d politely turned it down so she could handle the details Sam no longer could. She only looked like she wanted to murder the paper she was staring at a little, so that was fine. She had Mildred to help her, at least, Dean supposed.

Sam was a little sullen as he sat next to Dean in the car on their way to the crime scene.

“Think of it as your bachelor party,” Dean tried. Sam just looked at him. Strippers were not his thing, and he’d spent most of Dean’s attempt at a bachelor party trying to convince “Destiny” to go back to nursing school. “Okay, you hated your bachelor party, bad example. Think of it as one last adventure before you’re tied down for life.”

“That’s a shitty way to talk about marriage,” said Sam, his pout only increasing. “Eileen’s the best thing that ever happened to me, not a ball and chain.”

“I wasn’t talking about Eileen,” said Dean. He was trying to keep his tone friendly. He didn’t want to fight with Sam. He wanted to have fun, and have a nice memory for when he had to go back to doing this on his own. “She’s not the one tying you down. It’s this whole idea of having to be someone different once you get married, and that’s all on you.”

“Why is it so hard for you to believe that I don’t want to play pretend psychic, anymore?” asked Sam. He was clearly not putting as much effort into being non confrontational as Dean was, but that was neither here nor there. “I don’t like lying. I don’t like seeing you put yourself in danger again and again. It stopped being fun a long time ago, and the only reason I kept at it was because you needed me to be here.”

Dean’s hands tightened on the wheel. He pulled into Andy Gallagher’s driveway without a word, and slammed the door behind him when he got out of the car. Sam rolled his eyes at him.

“Grow the fuck up, Dean,” Sam muttered to himself. Not quiet enough so Dean couldn’t hear, though. Which was fine and dandy, and why did Sam even come if he was going to act like this?

Dean pushed that all away as they walked up to the door of Andy Gallagher’s house. He was a minor celebrity who Dean had met in passing when they’d investigated him on the set of Dr. Sexy M.D. (and Dean loved his life so much sometimes that that was a sentence he could say). Gallagher answered the door in neon pink slippers, boxers, and a shirt that said ‘Money doesn’t grow on trees, but weed does,’ which was so dumb and wrong it was kind of funny.

“I know you,” were the first words out of Andy Gallagher’s mouth. Dean pulled a blinding grin and decided to proceed with his regularly scheduled bullshit.

“I helped clear your name from the Dr. Sexy M.D. attempted murder charge. I also guest starred in the lowest critically rated episode of the series to date. I’m a man of many talents,” said Dean. He held out his hand to shake. “Dean Winchester. And this is my partner, the Samorama 3000.”

“Sam,” Sam corrected, just sounding tired now.

“That too,” said Dean, taking it in stride. Andy shook Sam’s hand, and seemed to accept all of this with the chemical calm of a very high individual. Dean was hoping that Sam and whoever Michael (AKA that asshole) sent onto the scene would get a contact high. He hoped it would be Alfie and Donna because that would be hilarious. Although… “Dude, you might wanna tone it down with the green stuff. You do realize the cops are coming?”

“I’ve got a medical card,” he said with a shrug. Fair enough. Andy’s eyes slid past Dean’s face and Dean turned around to see a police car approaching. He could feel his good mood slipping away as he recognized the two cops Michael had sent. Soon enough Castiel Novak and Charlie Bradbury were sidled up alongside them, ready to investigate.

Charlie and Cas got Andy’s official statement, and told him they would do everything they could to find the vandal. After they were done, Charlie asked Dean if he’d picked up on anything yet. Dean shook his head, not saying a word. An awkward silence fell then as Dean and Cas both did a good job at pretending they weren’t ignoring each other.

“Well,” said Sam after a few moments. “We should go and check out the van, right?”

Andy nodded and led the way. Dean rushed to follow behind and was glad when he saw Cas hesitate and fall to the back of the group. This could be mostly painless. It could still be his last fun case with Sam, just as long as Cas didn’t do something stupid, like try to talk to him. Or look at him. Or… whatever with his stupid face that Dean didn’t miss even a little.

**********

Castiel was certain that Dean was being extra irritating for the Gallagher case. As soon as they arrived at the van, his eyes had lit up again. It wasn’t hard to see why. The van in question was painted with symbols of drug paraphernalia and almost pornographic depictions of men and women. The inside of the van was essentially a sex den, though whether or not Andy actually used it was not a matter of which Cas was convinced.

The vandalism didn’t include any stolen items, or any damage to the paint job. In fact it was almost unnoticeable and Cas suspected Andy wouldn’t have noticed it if it hadn’t been for the fact that the floor on the back of the van was slightly uneven. A piece of the floor had been removed and then welded back onto the van. It was an odd crime, but there really weren’t any promising leads. Andy wasn’t sure when or where it had happened, and admitted that as long as it wasn’t dangerous to his van and didn’t need to be fixed he wasn’t all that interested in pressing charges. Essentially an open and shut case, which Michael had likely known when he assigned it.

Dean chose not to see it that way.

“We are officially taking the case,” Dean said to Sam, who looked as confused as Cas felt. Andy looked more so.

“I’m cool, dude,” he said. “Honestly, it’s not a big deal. And I’m not looking to hire you if the police won’t-”

“We’ll do it for free,” said Dean. Cas watched Sam hiss at him that he had to find some way to pay the rent for their office that month but Dean just shoved him away. “We’re going to find out who did this and bring them to justice. Because this is America, and no one should get away with hurting a beauty like this.”

Dean went back to obsessing over the van, then. Cas kept his mouth shut, and told Charlie they should get on their way. Of course Charlie had to make it more complicated by insisting if Dean was interested, there was probably a case there. She pulled him out of earshot of the others to argue with him.

“Dean has the attention span of a goldfish,” Charlie reminded Cas. “If he’s interested, we’re interested. Capisce?”

“No capisce,” said Cas. “Dean may think he’s on to something, but that doesn’t mean there’s anything here. And he’s being so… so…”

“Tame compared to how bad he used to be?” said Charlie. Cas scowled. “He’s really not being that bad. A little excitable, sure, but he always is. You just think he’s annoying because you’re frustrated.”

“Charlie.”

“Trust me, I wish I knew less about your sex life. I am scarred from what Dean has told me,” said Charlie. “But I’m like ninety percent sure you use sex as a replacement for intimacy, and that’s why you get so wound up when you’re single. Like I haven’t had sex in months and I’m fine. I’m not saying you need to get laid, but like… find a way to let shit go, y’know?”

“Months?” Cas asked, ignoring everything else.

“Donna and I are taking it slow. None of your business,” said Charlie, turning red. “Anyway-“

“You said you’d stop.”

“I said I’d stop trying to get you and Dean back together,” said Charlie. “I’m not going to stop trying to help you. That’s what partners do. Now, are we taking this case or not?”

Cas sighed. “You seem to have made up your mind,” he pointed out. “I suppose we can stay on it a little longer. Look into things. I’m just fairly certain that with our luck it will turn out to have an incredibly dull answer.”

**********

Dean’s vision blurred as he opened his eyes and tried to make out where he was. The back of his head was aching and everything seemed out of focus and too dark. He was jerked to the side suddenly and his head hit against a wall. The pain helped bring him to focus, and he became aware as he tried to touch the tender spot on the back of his head that his hands had been tide behind his back.

So… nothing to worry about. He’d just been tied up and left in what seemed to be the trunk of a god damn car.

Okay, breathe Dean. Breathe, he told himself. You know what to do for this. Dad made sure of that.

**********TWENTY YEARS AGO**********

Dean was moping in his room as Sam and his mom waved goodbye from the car as they pulled out of the driveway. Dean looked away and refused to wave back. It wasn’t fair that he didn’t get to go visit Grandpa Samuel just because he might have bitten him that one time. Grandpa had deserved it anyway, and Dad agreed with him. The last time they’d all visited Grandpa Samuel, he’d said something Dean hadn’t quite understood about the way Dean looked and what that might say about him that had made his mother go tightlipped and angry, and made his dad hiss at Grandpa Samuel to shut his mouth.

On second thought Dean didn’t want to go and see his stupid grandpa anyway. It just wasn’t fair that his mom and Sammy were using part of his mom’s vacation time to go and visit Grandpa Samuel, who sucked and wasn’t even nice. Dean missed his Grandma Deanna, who had smelled like cigarette smoke and sang to him the same Beatles songs his mom did.

“How are you holding up, champ?” John asked him, sitting next to him in his room. Dean looked away and buried his face in his pillow. “I know grandpa can be kind of-“

“A buttface,” Dean said into the pillow.

“Well… not how I’d put it but yeah,” said John. “He’s your mom’s dad, though. She can’t not visit him. He might not be around much longer.”

“Good,” Dean said into the pillow. John didn’t disagree with him, though he did sigh deeply. “It’s not fair. Why does he get to spend time with Mom and I don’t? She’s always busy and you’re always busy.”

“We spend time together,” John said. Dean looked up at him.

“Only when you’re teaching me how to be a cop,” said Dean seriously. “We never do anything fun.”

John swallowed. He looked away.

“Well, fun won’t keep you safe,” he said. “And I was going to teach you something really important today, but if you don’t want to…”

Dean sat up straight for the first time. John took out his car keys and Dean jumped up.

“Are you going to teach me to drive?” he asked, his eyes brightening significantly. John snorted.

“When you’re older, kiddo,” he said. “I’m going to teach you something that might save your life, okay, son? So pay attention.”

John had then driven Dean to a junk lot and locked him in the trunk of one of the cars.

********

“Fuck, shit, fuck,” Dean cursed to himself as he manipulated his body so he could try and get his hands in front of him. He couldn’t do it in the small space and gave up, instead reaching for his pockets and letting out a sigh of relief. His lighter and his phone were still there. From the light on his phone he was able to orient himself. He shifted more and carefully kicked out, removing one of the tail lights from the car.

With any luck the fuckwads who kidnapped him would get pulled over, but if not he at least could get a sense of where he was. He snatched for his phone again, not able to twist enough that he could see the screen as he typed, but putting Sam’s name in and texting him everything he saw as he drove amid texts that he hoped conveyed his panic. Sam didn’t text back once, and Dean sighed in frustration.

“Now is so not the time to not have your phone, Sammy,” Dean muttered. Swallowing his pride, Dean typed in another name and tried calling.

“Cas, listen I know we’re not really talking-“

“What the hell are you doing calling me?” Cassie Robinson said sniffily into the phone. Oh no. Oh fuck, no, he must have hit the wrong name. “Look, just because you and that cop broke up doesn’t mean I’m interested in-“

“Cassie, that is not why I’m calling-“

“Save it. Thanks for helping out my cousin, but I don’t want to get involved in your messes again. Bye.”

“No Cassie, you don’t understand, I need help-“

His phone cut off. Fuck! How much battery did he have left? He hadn’t exactly planned on getting kidnapped when he’d driven out and maybe he’d been playing Words with Friends with his dad again earlier in the day, even though he knew that sucked his dumb phone dry.

Dean wiggled his way around until he was facing his phone and sighed in frustration. With fifteen percent of his battery left and no idea when Sam would pick up his fucking phone, Dean wasn’t optimistic about his chances of getting out.

He kicked out the other tail light, half out of spite and half out of desperate hope that it would make it more likely that someone would pull them over. In the meantime, Dean got to work on trying to get out of the duct tape holding his wrists and ankles together.

*********EARLIER*********

“I can’t believe this,” Sam said, glaring at his cellphone. “Dean says he has a lead and he’ll stop by later.”

Eileen shrugged and got back to nervously looking through the invite list for the rehearsal dinner they were going to be having in half an hour. She hated planning events, and she was very excited to never have to do so again. As much as she was glad that she was going to be married to Sam, she really wished she could just skip the whole wedding part. Unfortunately, it was very important to Sam that they did the ceremony with all the bells and the whistles and Eileen just hadn’t had the heart to say she would have preferred something much, much smaller. Like a dinner to celebrate just the two of them.

Houdini hopped into Eileen’s lap as she fretted and she smiled down at the rabbit, pressing a kiss to his forehead. Sam waited until she was looking at him again before he went on complaining about his brother, signing this time.

‘He knows how important this is,’ Sam signs. ‘He even asked me to go with him. Like I’m going to miss my own rehearsal dinner.’

‘We can call it off,’ Eileen offered. Like that was going to happen. Sam looked offended that she’d suggested it. ‘Does Dean need to be there?’

‘No, but he’s the best man and he-‘

‘He’s going to be there for the wedding,’ Eileen reminded Sam. ‘And honestly if I could get out of this rehearsal dinner, too, I would.’

Sam rolled his eyes and snorted. Eileen felt herself relax a little seeing Sam smile, even if the smile was very small. After a few seconds, Sam came back to himself and calmed down.

‘I’m just going to text him that I hope he has fun on his dumb case,’ signed Sam. He did so, and then left his phone and the bed side table. Eileen pulled him in to kiss him gently, a softly placed good job to Sam’s maturity. At least it started gently.

Twenty minutes later, and Sam remembered that they had places to be. He and Eileen rushed out the door to get to their rehearsal dinner. Sam’s phone stayed on his dresser.

*********PRESENT*********

“Stop calling, Dean.”

“Cassie, if you hang up on me one more time, I’m going to-“

The line was already dead and Jesus fucking christ why couldn’t he hit the right Cas’s name a single friggin time? He could try calling Charlie, but half the time her phone was dead, too, and Dean was down to nine percent on his phone now. He’d kept up sending landmarks to Sam (and he’d checked and thank God all of those texts had gone to Sam and not someone who would be as obnoxious as Cassie was being, like his Grandpa Samuel.

He tried calling his dad, but he hadn’t picked up either and that was about when Dean had remembered that tonight was Sam’s rehearsal dinner, and that meant there was a good chance everyone that might be able to help him was likely too busy eating a freaking dinner to come to his rescue and if this was karma for planning on getting to the dinner late, then karma really was a bitch.

Okay, one more time, at the very least. Dean carefully typed in the three letter C-A-S on his touch screen, praying to whoever was out there that it worked. Then he carefully made sure to go only as far as one space down and pressed it. The phone rang and rang, and Dean held his breath waiting for an answer.

“Officer Castiel Novak, speaking, who is this?”

The very first feeling Dean had was one of incredible relief. This was immediately followed by incredible irritation.

“Seriously, Cas?” Dean asked. “You deleted my number from your phone?”

“Oh,” Cas said, his voice getting very small. “Dean. Sam was upset you didn’t make it to the rehearsal dinner. You should really get in touch with him. Any case details we can handle tomorrow-”

“Look, that’s not what I’m trying to-”

“What do you want, Dean?” Cas asked. “I’ve been trying to make things easier and you seem determined to undermine my efforts, and I think-“

“Cas, just listen to me. This really isn’t about that, okay? I fucked up, and I don’t know where I am but someone grabbed me and stuck me in the trunk of their car. Last street sign I saw was Smith Street, but that was a while back and-“

Dean stopped talking, finding it odd that Cas hadn’t tried to interrupt yet. He threw his phone over so he could see what was happening and nearly screamed when he saw the black screen. His phone was dead, Dean had no idea where he was, and he still hadn’t managed to get all the way through the duct tape with the old nail he’d found by digging around blindly behind him.

In short, he was so totally fucked.

**********

“-listen to me! I really fucked up, and I don’t know where I am, but someone grabbed me and-“

Dean’s voice suddenly cut out. Cas started, looking down at the phone.

“Dean?” he said. “Dean, what’s going on?”

Call ended flashed across his screen. Cas attempted to call Dean back but it went straight to voicemail. Dread began to sink into his stomach, and Cas wasted no time calling Sam while he stumbled across his room to get dressed.

“Sam, I know it’s late,” he said in response to the annoyed grumbling on the other end of the phone. “I think Dean’s in trouble.”

“Doubt it,” Sam muttered. “He’s fine enough to drunk text me a million things, so I’d say he’s fine enough for me to get some sleep before I have to deal with him.”

“What did he text you?” Cas asked. Sam seemed taken aback by the urgency in Cas’ voice. “He called me, and the call ended suddenly but he said someone had attacked him.”

Sam sounded very awake after that and immediately agreed to meet Castiel at the station in fifteen. Castiel pounded on Charlie’s door and explained the situation as quickly as possible. They were out the door in five, Cas all the while feeling fear thrum through his veins.

**********

Sam knew that something indeed must be very wrong when he saw the Impala parked in a tow zone (after 6 p.m., at least). His brother would never leave the car in this kind of position if he had a choice. Cas seemed to be thinking the same thing because his frantic anxiety hardened into something more calculating and ruthless. Not that Sam wasn’t thinking some dark thoughts about what was going to happen to whoever had kidnapped his brother, but he really didn’t want to get on the bad side of a man who looked like Cas did right now.

“Let me see your phone, Sam,” Cas said, practically yanking it out of his hand and putting in the password. Which meant Sam needed to change his password again, and Jesus had Dean really told Cas his fucking phone password while they were dating? There was such a thing as boundaries. “Organ can?”

“Most of it is nonsense,” said Sam. “Autocorrected nonsense. It’s why I figured he was probably drunk.”

Charlie frowned to herself, taking the phone out of Cas’ hand. She scrolled through and frowned thinking as hard as she could. Then, as if she had been zapped by lightning, her eyes snapped up and her whole body jerked in excitement.

“Orange cone. He meant to type orange cone. That means he was near a construction zone,” Charlie said. “Wait, all of these are time dated, so if we can figure out what the fuck Dean is talking about and match it to landmarks, we can figure out the general route whoever took him had to take.”

“You and Sam can get started with-“ Cas started, but cut himself off when another car pulled into the lot. It took a moment for Sam to realize whose car it was. The pieces fell into place quickly as he saw his father step out of the car. Dean must have tried to reach out to more than just him and Cas, which likely meant that John Winchester had received his own concerning message. If he couldn’t track Dean’s phone, he would assume Sam was close by and track his instead.

“You all looking for Dean?” John asked, confirming Sam’s suspicions. “He left me a voicemail saying he got nabbed. Can’t track his phone, and it’s been a few hours. I got worried, and when I saw Sam was up and about in the middle of the night-”

“We’re figuring it out,” Cas said. “We’ll let you know when we have more information.”

“No,” said John. “I’m not sitting at home and waiting around while my son is in danger. So instead of trying to get rid of me, how about we help each other and get Dean home? Sound good?”

Cas exchanged a look with Charlie and let out a frustrated sigh. He nodded towards John and went back to laying out a plan.

“Sam and Charlie, you will do your best to recreate the route the car took,” said Cas. “John and I will follow the trail. Keep the fact that I allowed a civilian along to yourselves. I’m on thin ice with Chief Milton as it is.”

Sam nodded in agreement with the plan and took his spare keys out for the Impala so he and Charlie could head back to the station and lay out a road map. Hopefully there was enough information in Dean’s texts to get at the very least a general direction of where the kidnappers were taking him.

If nothing else, Sam knew that Eileen was on the case in her own capacity. As soon as he had told her what was going on, she’d called up Mildred so they could attack the whole thing from a different angle. Sam couldn’t let Charlie and Cas know that obviously, but it was helping him to breathe easier. They were going to get to Dean before anything bad could happen.

God, he really didn’t want the last thing he ever said to his brother to be a bitchy text message.

**********

Dean had finally managed to get his hands untied from the stupid duct tape and he was only bleeding a little, which meant after all this shit was over he probably had to get a tetanus shot. Which… fucking fantastic. At least he was now able to switch over to trying to figure out some way actually out of the trunk. The model wasn’t new enough to have anything but a standard lock, but the nail he had was too wide to be used to pick it.

Dean hadn’t started banging or asking for help because whoever had kidnapped him hadn’t stopped driving yet and he didn’t want to alert them to the fact he was awake. With few other options, Dean shoved his phone back in his pocket and collected his lighter and the nail he had found. After this, he arranged himself the way he had been when he had first woken, and did his best to think very hard about who might have gotten the jump on him.

He’d been clued in that there was more than met the eye with Andy’s car, mostly because it was obvious that the patch of floor had been completely removed and then replaced. That made it seem to him as though the vandalism wasn’t even supposed to have been noticed in the first place. After that he’d looked into the model van Andy had. He discovered, to his surprise, that it was the a top of the line security vehicle with bullet proof windows and a state of the art locking system. Basically impenetrable if it was operated under protocol. This made sense once Dean remembered that Andy Gallagher was a pretty wealthy actor and not just a pothead, but still… Talk about overkill, right?

Then again, Dean was pretty sure he’d read in a trashy magazine once that a man claiming to be Andy’s long lost twin brother had stalked him and sent him death threats for a few months, so that might explain it.

In any case, Dean had looked into who else used vans of the same make and model and had been surprised to see California used similar vehicles for transferring money to banks. He’d decided to wait out a delivery to a the biggest bank in Santa Barbara to see if his hunch was correct, and had been rewarded for his ingenuity with a knock on the back of the head and the worst fucking road trip of his life.

At long last the car pulled to a stop and Dean quickly slid his eyes shut. It must be getting close to dawn now, because they’d been driving at least four hours since Dean had first looked at his phone. Chances were some of that was weaving to confuse anyone looking through the security cameras that might have picked them up, but most of it had felt like they’d kept up a pretty straight route. Then again, Dean had time between 8:00 p.m. and 1:00 a.m. that he couldn’t account for, and for all he knew they were halfway to Canada by now.

He kept entirely still as he heard the car creaking as people climbed out of it. That was when he remembered that he’d kicked out the tail lights, and that meant he would only just have the element of surprise. He searched and scanned his brain for any info about how many people may have kidnapped him, but he could only remember the one shadow he saw before he was hit hard over the head.

Best to go for it and hope for the best then.

The trunk swung open and Dean kept his hands behind his back for the moment to see how many people were staring down at him. A familiar shark-toothed redhead smirked down at him from one side, and the ugly mug of Arthur Ketch looked down next to her.

“I’m afraid we’re going to have to explain,” said Ketch, as British as ever. “You see, we couldn’t just-“

Dean leapt forward, sticking the nail he had in one hand as hard as he could into Ketch’s side and using his lighter with the other hand to set Abby’s hair on fire. With how much product appeared to be in it, Dean made the assumption that her hair would be the most flammable thing on her person, and oh boy was he right. Both Ketch and Abby let out shouts and Dean snatched the keys from Abby’s loose grip. Now all he had to do was sprint to the front of the car and take off as fast as he could.

He’d barely begun to move before he heard the cock of a gun and felt the cold press of metal at his back. He closed his eyes and looked to his far left where Dorothy had been standing, just out of his sightline. She looked at him imperiously, shaking her head and moving the gun to rest against the back of his head.

“Drop the keys,” she said. Dean obeyed, lifting his hands so they were above his head. As he did so, he also carefully and moving very slowly removed one of his shoes and kicked it under the car. No one noticed. “You’re lucky we’re working with Ketch. Abby would have asked me to kill you for that stunt you just pulled.”

Abby was looking particularly homicidal, now that Dorothy mentioned it. Dean didn’t laugh at her smoldering hair, but that was out of sheer survival instinct, not because it wasn’t hilarious.

“Not that I would have, necessarily,” Dorothy added. “Ketch, if you could tie him up again?”

“He stabbed me!”

“Serves you right for underestimating him,” said Dorothy, rolling her eyes. “Now stop whining and tie him up. Unless you want to give him the chance to stab you again?”

“Moron,” Abby said in agreement with Dorothy, only barely under her breath. She pushed past Ketch and shoved Dean’s hands behind his back so she could tie him up herself. Ketch looked thoroughly put out. He gingerly removed the nail from his side, remaining stoic enough not to let on how badly it hurt. Dean hoped he was hiding a lot of pain and not just being dramatically stiff lipped about a little. He was distracted from this train off thought when Abby reached out and pinched his chin as hard as she could, dragging his face towards hers. “You’re just so clever aren’t you?”

“I like to think so,” Dean said, trying to flinch out of her grip. Dorothy pressed the gun to the back of his neck again and Dean stopped squirming. This was so much worse than he thought it was. “So what… you drove me out into the middle of nowhere to kill me?”

Abby smoothed out her clothing and fixed her hair to the best of her ability before answering.

“We haven’t decided what we’re going to do with you yet,” she said. “Ketch said you weren’t going to be an issue, and that he had handled it. Then again, Ketch isn’t the brightest bulb in the building.”

“I can actually hear you,” Ketch muttered, sounding even more sore than when he’d been stabbed.

“If you’re all done squabbling like children, I’m going to go put him with the other one. Ketch, go hide the car,” said Dorothy. She took hold of the back of Dean’s shirt and started dragging him towards what looked to be a door in the side of a hill. Dean frowned as she opened it and he looked down to find himself in some kind of underground bunker, likely a relic from World War II or the Cold War if the old school dials and gears were anything to go by. “This place isn’t on any maps, so good luck getting rescued.”

Dean didn’t really pay attention to what Dorothy was saying, because sitting in the middle of the room, tied to a chair, was Mary Winchester.

“Mom?” Dean said, the shock of seeing his mom just sitting their cool as a cucumber enough that Dorothy managed to get him down the stairs without much of a struggle. Before he knew it he was being tied up next to her. “What are you doing here?”

“Oh you know,” Mary said. “Having a midlife crisis. You?”

“Sam’s getting married and I broke up with Cas, so I kinda tried to follow a lead without back up. As one does.”

“That’ll do it,” Mary said. Dean lay back heavily in his seat and Mary reached out as far as she could to brush his hand in a moment of comfort. “I’m so sorry, sweetheart. We’ll get out of this, I promise.”

“It’s not your fault, Mom,” said Dean, frowning. Mary looked away from him. “Honestly, this is better than when I thought you were just ignoring me.”

Mary laughed humorlessly.

“I was trying to bring down Ketch, and I wanted to keep you out of it,” she admitted. “But I made mistakes and he caught on. I shouldn’t have put you at risk like that. I should have let someone else take the case. Now you’re here and-“

“Can we chill it with the family reunion?” Abby asked from the top of the stairs, breaking through Mary’s attempt at an apology. “Honestly, it’s making me break out in hives.”

“Wow, it’s amazing how much I don’t care about your opinion,” Dean snarked back. Abby raised an eyebrow at him, and Dean swallowed. Yeah, he’d forgotten how scary she was. Dorothy was efficient and emotionless, which made her a threat, but Abby was something else altogether. Dean didn’t like the way she was looking at him one bit.

“Do you want to know why you’re alive right now?” she asked him. Dean didn’t say a word. He kept absolutely still, as though a T-Rex were staring him down instead of a woman. “I’ll take that as a yes. You’re alive because you’ve got that incredible brain of yours whirring away, and you ruined part of our haul tonight. We were only able to steal from 10 vans instead of 15, which cost us around $10,000. So… either you’re going to help us make up for every penny you lost us, or mother Mary is going to get a bullet in her head.”

Dorothy aimed her gun carefully and flicked the safety off.

“Get the picture?” Abby asked. Her smile was wide and vicious, and Dean didn’t have a very good feeling about any of this. Not even a little bit.

**********

Cas and John had long since exhausted the route that Dean had sent to Sam and Charlie. Now they were staying along the same highway and hoping they would find someplace the kidnappers might have stopped to regroup. They’d been driving for almost five hours now and had passed state lines into Nevada.

“We should turn around,” Cas said, feeling defeated. “We can’t just keep driving and hoping to catch up.”

“Charlie got us a description of a car,” John reminded him.

“This is like searching for a needle in a haystack,” said Cas. “For all we know they turned off of this road a long while back.”

“They didn’t,” said John. “If they did, Dean would have signaled us.”

“Signaled?” Cas asked, turning to look at John. “What does that mean?”

“It’s how I trained him,” John explained. “When he was eight, we went over the protocol for being kidnapped by car. Nine times out of ten, you get locked in the trunk. Dean would know to knock out the tail lights and as soon as his phone stopped working he would need to throw out a piece of clothing near any turns we would need to take.”

Castiel was silent for a long moment. God grant me strength, he thought to himself before he managed to force out a reply.

“You locked an eight year old in the trunk of a car as a training exercise?” he asked. He sounded calm, but he was anything but. “In what world did that seem like a sound parenting decision?”

“It seems like a sound parenting decision right now, considering it’s going to be the thing that gets my son found and safe,” John said back. “Just because I wasn’t some hippy touchy-feely parent doesn’t mean I ever didn’t want the best for my-“

“Dean didn’t speak to you for years,” Castiel said, forcefully. “I have a great deal of professional respect for you, sir, and you have been nothing but friendly to me, but so help me God-“

“You’re not a father,” said John. “You don’t have any idea what it’s like.”

“It sounds to me like you weren’t much of a father either,” said Cas. “And maybe Dean wouldn’t act like such a child if you had allowed him the decency of a fucking childhood. Maybe he wouldn’t always be taking stupid risks, and- and getting himself into such terrible situations if you had just taught him less about what it means to be an officer of the law and more about what it means to be a man.”

“Pull over,” said John. Cas glared at him.

“I’m turning around.”

“No pull over, right now!” John said, steering the wheel himself to the side of the road. Castiel slammed on the brakes, and the car lurched to a stop much quicker than it should from the speed they had been going. He breathed hard as his adrenaline spiked and he tried to make out why John had pulled them over so suddenly.

In the middle of the grass at the side of the road was a lone shoe.

Cas got out of the car at the same time as John, trying to keep in mind that a shoe didn’t necessarily mean anything. It wasn’t even necessarily Dean’s shoe, though it looked like something he would wear. He reminded himself of this right up until the moment that John bent to the grass and lifted up a lighter. The monogrammed initials on the side were DC, for Deanna Campbell, Dean’s favorite grandmother. He’d told Cas a story or two about her on one of the many nights Cas had spent over at Dean’s house.

Before Dean had told him to get out and not come back, of course.

Cas forced himself not to think about it. The only important thing right now was making sure that Dean was safe. He swallowed down his confusion and anger and fear and turned to look at John.

“What do you think we’re looking for?” he asked. John looked around and shrugged.

“I suspect we’ll know it when we find it,” he said. And so they started to search.

**********

Mary had suspected Ketch was using one of three locations as a safe house. When the coordinates John Winchester and Castiel had stopped at turned up a match for one of these locations, Eileen had made the leap that Ketch was likely the orchestrator of whatever had happened to Dean. Mildred confirmed that Mary had missed her last few check in calls, and they hadn’t been concerned yet, but Dean’s disappearance was not a good sign for her, either.

Eileen couldn’t imagine Sam having to go through losing his brother and his mother all at once. It sharpened her despite her sleepless night and made her intent on doing what she could to ensure Mary and Dean Winchester’s survival. She had little family of her own before she met Sam, and now that she had a taste of what she had been missing, she wasn’t losing her newfound family. No matter the lengths required to preserve it.

Eileen had already alerted agents in the area to look into possible locations and warned them that there was a law enforcement official and a civilian on the ground. Having exhausted all options there (excepting arming herself and driving the five hours to save Dean and Mary herself, which seemed excessive considering many other skilled people were already in the area), Eileen decided to get in contact with Alice.

Alice was one of the best tech people the CIA had to offer. Sam had frequently vouched for Charlie’s skills in this area, but Eileen knew that when it came to uncovering Arthur Ketch’s digital footprint, two heads would be better than one. Even if Charlie couldn’t know about the other head working because well, CIA, but… The point was that Eileen was on it.

‘Anything?’ Eileen messaged to Alice through her work computer, which was encrypted about five different ways, and folded up to about wallet size when not in use. Sam was very jealous the first time she’d shown it to him, and although she had asked, Mildred had decided it wasn’t in the country’s best interest to grant Eileen a second back up computer. Sam had been disappointed.

Alice messaged back quickly a series of interesting updates, all of which Eileen scanned thoroughly. Most of it was information she had already started to put together, though an indication that Ketch had become officially associated with some of the local crime organizations in California was news to her. It wasn’t much to go on, but it was enough to explain Ketch’s sudden shift from well planned out heists to a poorly thought out kidnapping. In fact, knowing what Eileen did about Ketch’s character from Mary Winchester’s detailed reports, she really didn’t think that Ketch would bother kidnapping Dean. He wasn’t exactly a great guy, but for all intents and purposes he had a code that he mostly followed and that precluded kidnapping people who weren’t a threat to him. Ketch might be interested in Dean, but there was no indication he would actually want to hurt him.

This led Eileen to review the careful notes on different case files that Sam had taken, in order to narrow down who might have it out for Dean. Bela Talbot and Fergus McCleod were still in jail, and with few outside connections left. Most of the other people Dean had looked into didn’t have the clout to pull off something like this from behind bars either. That left Eileen with the people Dean hadn’t been able to send to jail. The assassin from the Marve St. Michael case was a possibility, but she would only operate under the orders of someone else, so Eileen discounted her. That left Abigail Donlan and Dorothy Baum as her prime suspects, which corroborated Mary’s reports that Ketch had been helping to establish them and take over Azazel’s former assets.

By feeding this information back to Alice, Eileen was able to get a hold of a large degree of information regarding Donlan and Baum’s digital records. It was only a matter of time before she found all the information she officially needed for a warrant against both of them. The evidence wasn’t strong enough to hold for longer than the time it would take to question them, but it would be enough to get them in police custody while Eileen continued to try to tie them to their various and sundry crimes.

Satisfied, Eileen remembered that she still had some wedding details to sort out and promptly relegated them to Mildred. If having an excuse not to have to make any of the last minute decisions was the silver lining of this whole mess, Eileen would take it as long as Dean and Mary were safe.

**********

“I feel like threatening to kill my mom isn’t very feminist of you,” said Dean. “I mean… all of you are sisters doing it for themselves. Where’s the female solidarity?”

“Shut your pie hole, Legally Blonde,” said Abby, rolling her eyes at Dean. “You’re not charming your way out of this one.”

“So you think I’m charming?” Dean asked, but he could tell his voice was shaking too much to pull it off. “Dorothy, might wanna keep a leash on your girlfriend, I think she’s into me.”

Dorothy pointed the gun down lower and shot Mary through the meat of her thigh. Dean hadn’t known that his mom knew that many curse words. In any other situation, he would have been impressed.

“I’ll… I’ll do whatever you want,” Dean said quickly, as Dorothy took aim again. “Please don’t hurt her.”

“Excellent,” said Abby. “Now let’s start picking through that head of yours.”

“What is the meaning of this?” asked Ketch, stepping in from where ever he’d been hiding his dumb British face. He went a little pale when he saw Mary was bleeding. “In what world was shooting her ever part of the plan?”

“Ketch,” Abby warned. Her expression was displeased, and if Dean were Ketch, he would stop talking right about now.

“I was under the impression we were making threats,” he said. “Not carrying them out.”

“If it wasn’t for the fact you decided to team up with us, this bitch would have had you behind bars by now,” Abby pointed out. “You going soft, Ketch?”

“Would you like to test me?” Ketch asked, sounding about as homicidal as Abby did now and damn, Dean hadn’t quite seen that coming. Not that Ketch wasn’t a killer, he just figured he was smarter than this. He looked over at his mom, who was still grimacing in pain from the gun shot wound. Dorothy was bandaging it now while Ketch and Abby had their standoff. “You’ve gained a great deal due to your association with me. I can take it all back.”

“Can you?” Abby asked, looking him up and down. Ketch stood taller, hand reaching for a gun at his belt. “It would be such a shame if our mutual business partners were to hear that you were taken by surprise when Dean here leapt out of his car and attacked you. Smashed your skull up, maybe?”

Ketch looked at Dean and Mary and then at Abby and Dorothy. Then he pulled out his gun and pointed it at the two women.

“How about we let them go and forget about this whole affair?” Ketch said, his voice even. Talk about a fucking twist. Dean turned to look at his mom.

“Did you…?” Dean looked at Ketch and then back at his mom.

“Do you want me to ground you?” his mom growled back. “Next time you ask me a question like that, make sure I haven’t been shot first. Also, just don’t.”

Okay, Dean deserved that. Still, he really hoped his mom hadn’t hit that because talk about low standards. Not that Dean has ever been accused of having high standards. His getting-over-Ash phase back when he was coming to terms with his whole sexuality thing hadn’t been the prettiest period of his life, and his mom had been witness to a lot of that. The fact that Cassie was one of his better relationships said a whole lot more about his life than Dean was comfortable with.

Cas had been a pretty good boyfriend though. When he wasn’t being an obtuse asshole, that was.

Dorothy and Abby had now both pulled their guns on Ketch. No one was moving.

“Why don’t we come to an arrangement, Ketch? We let you get out of here alive, and we do the dirty work,” Dorothy said at last. She would shoot as soon as Ketch’s gun wasn’t pointing at Abby, of that Dean was sure.

“No,” said Ketch, keeping his gun aimed steadily. “If either of you shoots me, I will have more than enough opportunity to shoot the person you both care about most in the world.”

“It’s two against one,” Abby pointed out. She didn’t dispute the insinuation that she wouldn’t care if Ketch had pulled the gun on Dorothy, but Dorothy seemed to take it in stride.

“Actually, it’s three against two,” said a deep, grumbly voice that Dean had never thought he was going to be glad to hear again. “Drop the guns. We have backup on the way and warrant for the arrest of Abigail Donlan and Dorothy Baum.”

There at the top of the stairs stood Castiel and Dean’s dad, looking down at the scene below them.

“Well, it’s about time you guys got here,” said Dean.

**********

Reinforcements arrived within minutes, leaving Cas free to help cut Dean out of the duct tape keeping him in his chair. Mary Winchester had been the first priority, and she had promptly been sent to the hospital while John stayed at her side. Cas had spoken to the paramedics and they were convinced Mary would be fine. The bullet had missed her artery, and the wound had been cleaned and bandaged already, making infection less likely. He reassured Dean of this as he finished cutting him free.

“So I guess we’re even,” Dean said, rubbing at his wrists. “For me saving you when you were kidnapped.”

“I’m not keeping score, Dean,” Cas muttered batting away one of Dean’s hands so he could take a look at his wrist. It was fine as far as he could tell, but he inspected both just in case. “Do you have a concussion? Did they drug you? Did they hurt you? Is there anything that I need to-“

“Cas, calm down,” said Dean, holding Cas’ hands still. “I’m fine, okay? Not a scratch. Maybe a few scratches. A bump on the back of my head. You don’t need to kiss it better.”

“I had no plans to kiss you,” Cas said, his hands flinching back from Dean. Dean just stared at him. “I’m sorry. You were using a figure of speech, I get it. I just… I was very worried about you.”

“Yeah, well… I’m okay,” said Dean, clearing his throat. “So-”

“I only deleted your number because I was concerned I might reach out to you,” Cas said, interrupting him. Dean would feel a lot better about that if Cas would even look at him. “You asked me not to contact you and I was trying to respect that. It wasn’t because…”

Cas trailed off, and Dean had no clue what to say. He’d just been pretty sure both he and his mom would die, and his issues with Cas were looking a lot smaller from this side of that particular trauma. If Cas would just come out and say that he wanted Dean back, it wouldn’t be an issue. Dean wouldn’t even hesitate.

“What I’m trying to say is… I’m glad you’re alright,” said Cas.

“Yeah, well,” said Dean, figuring this was the last fucking hint he was going to throw Cas. Partly because if he didn’t get a clue now, he was never going to. Partly because he’d just been kidnapped and that shit is trying for anyone’s patience levels. Mostly, though, it was because he wanted Cas to get it. To understand how to fix things between them. “I knew you’d figure out a way to get to me.”

Oh boy did this backfire. Cas looked away from him.

“I- Your father was the one who figured out how to find you,” said Cas. “I’m still angry with him for forcing a child to undergo mental and physical training of that nature at such a young age-“

“Yeah, he isn’t winning any dad of the year awards,” Dean cut in. “Seriously, though. Thanks for showing up for me, Cas.”

“Of course,” Cas said. He cleared his throat again and helped Dean to his feet, his hands lingering on Dean’s forearm a little longer than they needed to. But Cas still wouldn’t say a fucking word. Jesus Christ.

So Dean suffered a five hour drive home in tense silence, and all the while hoped really hard to himself that at the very least Abby and Dorothy would get a lot of jail time for the stunt they’d pulled. One good thing should come out of all this shit.

**********

Charlie was nearly bursting with news when Cas and Dean got back to the station. She, Sam, Donna, Alfie, and Alicia were all celebrating the sudden and very welcome ousting of Michael Milton, who had been connected through a CIA investigation to Arthur Ketch, Abigail Donlan, and Dorothy Baum. Ketch had agreed to turn on his business partners in return for immunity, again making Dean side eye what the fuck the guy thought he was doing. Then he decided he didn’t care.

Sam had told Dean quietly that some of his investigative work looking into Michael Milton had been essential in proving the connection between Milton and Ketch. This meant Eileen had somehow broken into his computer, and Dean just really hoped that she had steered clear of the file marked ‘porn,’ because yikes, he didn’t not need his soon to be sister in law seeing that.

This news was more than sufficient to lift Dean’s mood and his disappointment in Cas faded into the background. He was even more uplifted when he saw Jody Mills and a very familiar looking man walk into the police station. The officers all look flabbergasted at Jody Mills return, and more than a few people went up to hug her, including Charlie and Missouri. Jody allowed the affection with more grace and less authority than she usually did, but only for a moment. Then she was the all-business Chief that they had missed and loved.

“I know it’s been a while, and I am so happy to see all of you again,” she said, allowing a brief smile before she continued. “I’m here to act as temporary Chief until we can find the next permanent chief for the SBPD.”

“Wait, what?” asked Dean. “Why don’t you get to be permanent chief? Michael flubbed the report against you. He was a total jackass. Jody, you can’t take this lying down.”

“Good to see you, Dean,” said Jody warmly. “Kindly shut up.”

The man who had walked in with Jody stepped forward and that was when Dean realized where he had seen that face before. Mayor Cain stood before all of them, smiling mostly benevolently. Mostly being the operative word, because he still had that killer politician look that no one in office for very long could seem to avoid. The only thing Dean knew about Mayor Cain was that Cas used to like him before Jody had been fired because he wanted to help save the bee population in California.

“After it was brought to my attention what had happened here, I decided to offer Chief Mills a promotion for her poise under duress and the excellent job she has done with this department,” said Cain. “I wanted to cut back on corruption, and it pained me that in doing so I might have increased it. She’s going to be helping me with updates to police codes statewide, and because of the demands of this job she won’t be able to stay on as Chief.”

“But we-“ Cas started, drawing Jody Mills’ eyes to him. He seemed to reconsider what he was going to say and nodded to her deferentially. “Congratulations, Chief. You will be sorely missed.”

Jody’s eyes softened for a second, and Dean was pretty sure he’d just seen a miracle. Today was the day Jody looked at Cas like she didn’t want to beat the crap out of him and wasn’t that just weird?

“I’m sure you will all be just as satisfied with your next Chief,” Jody said, not looking away from Cas as she said it. And Cas, who Dean had to keep reminding himself was only smart when he wanted to be, just stared back at her sadly. He didn’t know what she meant, and if Dean was right he was the only one who didn’t get it. Charlie had let out a little meeping sound as she looked at Cas and then had started grinning ear to ear. Dean knew that Cas had dreamed of being Chief one day, had even been pissed that he hadn’t been considered for it back when Jody had gotten the job. And here he was standing there, not realizing what the fuck Jody meant like some kind of overgrown, sad puppy. Which was dumb, not cute, okay?

“In any case,” Cain continued, smoothing over the buzz that had started up after Jody’s almost announcement. “It was good to meet you all. Thank you for protecting the city of Santa Barbara.”

And so Cain left, and everyone else got to welcoming Jody back again.

“Does anyone else think Mayor Cain looks kinda like Cas?” Charlie asked a little later. Dean frowned and looked over at Cas who was having an animated discussion with Alicia and Donna about something or other.

“Nah, I don’t see it,” he said with a shrug. He aimed a wink at Jody when she looked his way and she smiled back and mouthed a ‘thank you’ at him. Dean tried to wave it off, but the no-nonsense look in Jody’s eye made him mouth back ‘you’re welcome’ to her.

All in all, it wasn’t the worst day ever considering it had started out with him waking up in the trunk of a car.

**********THREE DAYS LATER**********

Eileen and Sam’s wedding was fucking gorgeous, and there reception was awesome as hell. Dean would give Sam credit on one thing and one thing only, and that was that he knew how to let loose when he felt it was socially appropriate. He’d put together money for an open bar, and tons of mini hamburgers and other finger foods from Vita’s that were easy to grab and take. Everyone was dancing, even Dean’s mom. Well, Mary Winchester was more bobbing than dancing considering her bullet wound, but she seemed to be having a good conversation with Cas’ parents, Ellen and Bobby, so Dean wasn’t too worried.

Jo and Alicia had mysteriously disappeared from the party, which Dean was pretty sure meant that Alicia was going to show up to work the next day grinning but worse for wear. Alfie had somehow already gotten drunk, and was drunkenly complimenting his wife, Hannah, who Dean hadn’t met before that night. All of Sam’s college friends were side eyeing the cops that had been invited and trying to figure out if they would be arrested if they smoked the pot they’d brought with them, which was hilarious. In Dean’s estimation it was a pretty good party.

On the dance floor, Charlie was slow dancing with Donna, and nobody had tried to talk to either of the two of the all night. Dean knew for a fact that they’d kissed for the first time that night because Charlie had spent the entire time she’d been getting ready for the wedding whining to him on speakerphone about whether or not she should go for it or keep taking it slow. She’d apparently decided to go for it, if the fact she and Donna were happily smooching every chance they got was any indication.

Maybe Donna had decided to go for it, actually? Wouldn’t be out of character for her to make the first move while Charlie tried to analyze the hell out of whether or not she should make the first move.

Dean had done his own complaining to Charlie about Cas on their phone call, and she had mostly stayed quiet about that, which made sense. He knew that when it came down to it, Charlie had to be loyal to Cas before him since they were partners. He still wished she would give him some advice about what to do. The thing was he couldn’t be the one to make the first move again, even if he could admit that breaking up with Cas the way he did had been a mistake. Because when it came down to it, he was still right. He couldn’t be the only one putting effort into the relationship. If Cas wanted him, then he had to be the one to find a way to make it work this time.

“You look pensive,” said Sam, sitting himself down next to Dean. “You haven’t danced once. I was counting on looking like a good dancer in comparison to you doing the sprinkler.”

“It’s a classic move,” Dean defended, but there was no heart in it. “Don’t you have a beautiful wife you’re supposed to be staring at lovingly?”

“She’s busy arguing with Frank about whether or not global warming is real,” said Sam. “Why did you make me hire Frank and Garth again?”

“I monetarily support Frank’s podcast about lizard people and rock n roll. I can’t not invite him to my little brother’s wedding,” said Dean, trying out his trademark shit-eating grin. “Besides, He and Garth make a halfway decent band. They were robbed at American Duos.”

“You interrupted their performance to solve a case.”

“I did the robbing. I need to be arrested. Let Cas know,” said Dean. The smile faded from his mouth as he saw Sam’s pitying look. “Let’s not get into it.”

“Why don’t you just-“

“Sam,” Dean interrupted. “Today is your day to be freaking happy as fuck that Eileen agreed to marry you. It’s a fucking miracle, we were all shocked. Please don’t make it about my crap.”

Sam nodded and let it go, which might be a first. Dean took a deep breath and put a smile back on his face.

“I am going to miss it you know,” Sam said after a second. “Solving mysteries. Getting into trouble. Tracking down serial killers-“

“Seriously, you and your serial killers Sam, what is up with that? This is why no one can believe Eileen settled for you.”

“Quit being such a jerk, Dean,” Sam said, but he smiled as he said it. “I just… I want to focus on other stuff that I want to be doing. Eileen actually said, well… we’ve kind of been talking about getting me involved with some desk duty stuff. At the CIA. Mildred might be looking to retire in a few years, and Eileen would need a new contact who was fluent in ASL.”

Something loosened in Dean’s chest to hear that. Sam wasting away at some office supplies company for years trying to be something he wasn’t had made Dean want to scream at his little brother and ask him what the hell he was doing with his life. But this-

“That sounds good,” Dean said. “I hope it works out for you guys. You always worked well together when Eileen helped us out with cases, and you’ll be in the loop about what’s going on with Eileen when she goes on missions. It all sounds like a great idea, Sam.”

“Thanks,” Sam said back. He seemed really touched and Dean was glad that his approval still meant that much to Sam. “I actually also wanted to talk to you about… Remember when you were in high school and you kept talking about dropping out, and I told you about how to get your GED?”

“Uh, yeah.”

“And you didn’t want to do it at first, but later you were glad you did?” Sam questioned further. Dean didn’t know what Sam was getting at but he nodded cautiously. Sam took a deep breath and rushed out his next sentence. “I’m not saying you have to and this is just a suggestion, but Dean have you ever considered applying at the police academy?”

Dean froze.

“What?”

“I just… I think you should look into it,” said Sam. He spoke as though he was choosing every word carefully. “I know it’s the last thing you said you wanted to do, but-“

“But what, Sam?” Dean asked him. And maybe his voice got a little loud, but a few glances in his direction was enough for him to lower it again. “I’m not going to be a cop. I am never going to be a cop. I’m not going to be like Dad.”

Sam chewed his lip and let Dean’s breathing get under control before he kept talking.

“I know this is a sore topic,” Sam said gently. “And I know that the shit Dad put you through as a kid was not okay. But Dean… what you’re already doing is basically police work. You’ve got pretty much every state and local statute memorized, and you’re close friends with almost every officer in the SBPD. You’re an honorary member already. This would just be making it official. You don’t even need to drop the psychic stuff if you don’t want to, but… it would be a steadier payroll.”

“I can’t just… I know things are better with Dad now,” said Dean. “And I forgive him, I do. He’s changed and I’m glad I let him back into my life. But if I do what you just said, it’s like the old him wins. Like I never had any choice after all.”

Sam thought a long while about how to answer that, and Dean was pretty sure he didn’t have an answer. He should have known better than to underestimate his brainiac brother, because before he could get up, Sam had come to a conclusion.

“I think stopping yourself from doing something that could make you happy just because you think it shouldn’t make you happy is a dumb move,” said Sam. “I mean, isn’t that what you’re always telling me?”

Dean looked down so he could avoid the triumphant look on Sam’s face.

“Just think about it?” Sam said. “I should go dance with Eileen. If she’ll let me.”

“Don’t stomp on her feet, sasquatch,” Dean called after his brother. Sam flipped him the finger and Dean went back to brooding, but for an entirely different reason now. He decided he needed a little air away from the rest of the party, so he got up and made his way to the area he’d seen one of the caterers smoking in earlier. Maybe there was still some second hand smoke lingering in the air and the traces of nicotine would calm him down some. It was doubtful, but not impossible.

Dean had only been sitting on the cold grass for a few minutes before someone else came and sat beside him. He wasn’t sure who to expect, but when he saw Cas he did his best not to let out a groan of frustration. He was pretty sure he’d suffered through enough of Cas’ awkward fumbling with his words for a lifetime. Cas sat down beside him resolutely and Dean didn’t tell him to leave, even though he kinda wanted him to.

“I wanted to return this,” Cas said, handing Dean back his lighter. Dean’s uncomfortable feelings vanished when he caught sight of it, and he took it from Cas and examined it, pleased to see it was barely scuffed from the kidnapping. Grandma Deanna’s initials were still visible and Dean felt a sense of rightness when he slid the lighter into the pocket of his suit. Cas smiled at him weakly, and Dean did his best to smile back. “You seem upset.”

“I’m fine,” Dean said. “It’s just… everything is changing.”

“The world tends to do that,” Cas agreed, looking forward. He was twiddling his thumbs absentmindedly and Dean got the sense the very last thing on Earth Cas wanted to do was have this conversation. “Dean… I wanted to say you were right. I did take you for granted, and I’m sorry for that. I’m not sure I could have done better than I did in our relationship, but I think I owe you an apology for my behavior. At the very least, an apology, I mean.”

“You don’t need to say you’re sorry,” said Dean. “I know I kinda… I should have said something earlier. I just kept waiting for you to start showing that you actually cared, and the longer it didn’t happen, the more angry I got. But you weren’t doing anything wrong, so I couldn’t say anything. And then when you did do something wrong, it all came out at once. I was just so pissed at you, Cas.”

“That’s fair,” said Cas, diplomatically. “Dean, we’re very different people.”

“I know that.”

“And it was never very likely that we would work out,” Cas continued. “When I met you, you were everything I stood against. The way I saw the world was very black and white and you transgressed the lines of morality I knew. Then we started having sex, and I couldn’t figure out why because I didn’t actually see a future with you. I didn’t love you, yet. When it started to become permanent and I realized I had feelings for you, it… it took me by surprise and maybe I didn’t handle it all that well. Overall.”

“You think?” Dean muttered to himself. “Look, Cas, my idea of a fun night isn’t exactly dissecting a dead relationship while getting grass stains on a suit it cost a thousand dollars to rent, so…”

Cas nodded to himself and closed his eyes. He seemed to be counting to three in his head and when he opened his eyes again, he had a determined fire to them. Before Dean could say another word, Cas had leaned forward and planted a kiss on the corner of his mouth. Then Cas started to lean away, but before he could Dean had yanked him back in for a much longer kiss. Because maybe that wasn’t the best apology in the world, but Dean didn’t give a damn because Cas had finally gotten over himself and fuck it, Dean wanted to forgive him. Cas seemed nothing less than happy to follow his lead. For once anyway.

“Wait,” Cas had said when Dean had started messing with his fly. “Wait.”

“Cas,” said Dean patiently. Or not patiently, depending on your definition. “How about we have sex, and then we can keep talking about the touchy feely shit.”

“First of all, we are not having sex behind the bushes at your brother’s wedding,” said Cas, which Dean should have expected because of course Cas was too straight laced for that. Never mind that Sam would be freaking thrilled that his new bff forever, Cas, was back with his brother. Not like Sam hadn’t been hinting at Dean to fix things for months. “And second of all, I am trying to make a romantic gesture and you are making it exceedingly hard to do so.”

“Aw, honey,” said Dean. “You make me exceedingly hard, too. Which we could do something about if-“

“Dean.”

“Romantic gesture received,” Dean tried next. Cas narrowed his eyes at him, and Dean shut up exceedingly fast, because Cas could look damn scary when he wanted to. “What is it?”

Cas reached into his pocket and pulled something out before holding it out gingerly. Dean stared at it uncomprehending for three long seconds before it clicked together. His eyes flicked back up to Cas’ and Dean was glad he was sitting down because he was pretty sure he’d just gone weak at the knees.

“Is that a toothbrush, Cas?” Dean asked. Cas nodded. “You asking to move in with me?”

“If… if you’ll have me,” Cas said hesitantly.

“Yeah,” said Dean. “That sounds… look, are you sure you’re not willing to reconsider the whole sex behind the bushes thing? Because I am really into you right now.”

Cas smiled, a bright happy twitch of his lips. He leaned in to kiss Dean again, long and slow. Then he stood up and dusted himself off.

“I’m sure,” said Cas, and if Dean hadn’t been so in love with the bastard he might have said something about getting him worked up like that. Instead he let Cas help him to his feet and lead him back towards the party.

Dean sat next to Cas as Garth and Frank announced the last song of the night. Sam and Eileen were slow dancing with each other, and Dean couldn’t have been happier for them both. He looked at Cas, who seemed just as taken with the joyful atmosphere and leaned closer to rest his head on Cas’ shoulder.

“This feels kind of like a happy ending,” he said. Cas hummed his agreement, and carefully took Dean’s hand. “You still have commitment issues, though, don’t you?”

“We aren’t getting married for many, many years,” Cas said without missing a beat.

“I can handle that,” said Dean. And yeah he could. He really, really could.

**********ONE YEAR LATER**********

Chief Novak sat behind his desk and looked over the paperwork. If he was showing off, no one had to know. Well, no one except Charlie who was obviously doing her best not to roll her eyes at him. Her fingers tapped on the desk impatiently and Cas smiled at her as obnoxiously as he could manage.

“Well,” Cas said at last. “The paperwork all seems to be in order. Charlie, meet your new partner, Officer Winchester.”

“Cas-“ said Dean, making a face at Cas’ over the top seriousness.

“That’s Chief Novak,” said Cas, trying not to laugh at Dean’s exasperated snort. “It says on your application that you’re psychic.”

“Uh huh,” Dean said, raising an eyebrow.

“I don’t believe in psychics,” said Cas.

“That’s okay, Cas,” said Dean. “I’m pretty sure you believe in me.”

Cas found himself looking down bashfully, and damn it. He had done so well keeping the upper hand at first. Oh well, best to quit the game while he was ahead.

“Alright, Charlie, lead our newest officer through your current case load,” said Cas. “You’re both dismissed. Take care of each other.”

Dean and Charlie just grinned at each other. Cas listened to something along the lines of ‘fight the man’ coming from one of them as they exited the door and watched the two of them high five. He began to highly doubt either of them would catch any criminals any time soon.

“At least try and stay out of trouble,” he called after Charlie and Dean, only to get vague reassurance called back. That would have to do.

Still, Cas supposed he couldn’t ask for much more than he already had. The people he cared about were well, and he had accomplished a dream that had stayed with him since he first decided on law enforcement as a career. His sister was well on her way to becoming a lawyer, and his best friend was happy and in a long term relationship she had wanted with an equally wonderful woman.

And perhaps most surprising of all, Dean Winchester had finally grown up. When Cas looked back at where all of this had started, he never would have expected all of them to end up where they had, but he was glad to have been wrong.

Okay, well Dean had mostly grown up. At the very least he wasn’t going to make the mistake twice of posting a flyer on the community board explaining why Castiel was objectively the most attractive Chief of police of the surrounding police departments. Probably. That counted for something, Cas supposed.

The End.

**Author's Note:**

> I finish things, I said defensively.
> 
> Anyway, thank you so much for reading. This was such a fun series to write, and I'll be happy if anyone enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.


End file.
